The Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday, for many it’s a day filled with standing in line, braving the cold, and fighting the crowds to save a few bucks on electronics. What if I told you that there was a much better way to spend your day? Payette Brewing’s “Black Friday” is day filled with a possibilities and incredible beers from around the region! You can sate your need for deals with a few minutes online in the morning before you head out to enjoy the a breathtaking selection of Stouts and Porters that will delight your palate and ensnare the spirit. Ok, ok, that may be a little deep, but seriously… this event and theses beers are worth blocking out the day on your calendar and shipping the kids off to the grandparents so you can maximize your experience.

This year, Payette Brewing hosted the event at their new facility in downtown Boise off River Street. Since the building is still being renovated, a large tent was erected in the parking lot filled with tables, music, lights, and thankfully a generator nearby to provide power and some heat! To say that it was cold out is an understatement. To say that the generator was unruly is too kind, especially for those employees & volunteers who were on-site getting everything ready hours before the event started. I arrived at 10, an hour before the “League of Outlaws” members early access and you couldn’t miss the frost that was forming on the inside of the tent walls. Once things really got hopping around 1:00 there was enough heat inside from the heaters and warm bodies that the ambient temps were getting bearable although we had some intermittent rain from all that melting frost. By that time however, I don’t think anyone noticed… or cared. There were simply to many people to talk to and way too many beers to dive into….

On July 18th 2015 the brewing community in and around the Treasure Valley came together to support Kerry Thomas, head brewer at EDGE Brewing in Boise who was injured in a boil over accident. It has always been my impression that the competition in craft beer, at least here in the Treasure Valley, is pretty good natured and generally friendly. The wagons were circled to support one of their own from the get go.

In case you didn’t make it out to Prefunk for ‪#‎kegsforkerry‬ here are just a few of the things you missed. The crowd was of course, great and the turn out was pretty amazing. When I arrived a few minutes after 3pm there was already a line out the building of people waiting to get some beer. There was both a raffle (personally I didn’t win anything, but Rick & his wife Sarah cleaned house at the table we shared) and a silent auction. Auction items ran the gambit from a beach house stay in Oregon to gift certificates, growlers + fills, amazing beer packages, art and more.…

Why on earth would anyone care to battle the crowds to save a few bucks off electronics that you don’t need when you could spend 10 hours drinking amazing beer?? That’s just what we did at what will hopefully become an annual event put on by Payette Brewing at the Linen Building in downtown Boise featuring more stouts than I have ever seen in one location.

Everything on tap was a stout and they hailed from local brewers like Boise Brewing, EDGE, Crooked Fence, McCall Brewing, Sockeye, Highlands Hollow, & of course Payette. Not to be left out, a number of regional names were also in attendance like Deschutes, Ninkasi, Odell, Widmer Brothers, Full Sail to name just a few. Out front was one of my favorite local food trucks Archies Place, with perfect sandwiches to follow copious beer consumption. My only complaint was the unseasonably warm temps in Boise paired with mass stout consumption.

The crowd showed up ready to drink beer and while I was there at least, everyone was easy going, festive and chatting up other beer lovers. In fact, it was hard not to make new friends for those of us that were fortunate enough to have landed one of the few tables or barrels. After the first few hours… having a table to rally around made all the difference and as people came and went it proved fruitful in the inheritance of beer tokens as fellow patrons ran out of time, stamina, or sobriety and decided to throw in the towel. I wound up with 2 bonus beers which was both a blessing and a curse after the 5 tokens I had purchased for myself.

Payette Black Friday 2014; The event itself was free, tokens for a 5oz pour were $3 each, a commemorative glass snifter was $5 or you could forgo the glass and use a mini solo-cup. My thinking with the glass was that aside from the souvenir factor, it was also more likely to result in over-pour since it’s harder to judge the volume on the curved glass. Of course, every pour varied and some behind the tap were more generous than others. All things considered, definitely no complaints and as I understand it, some of the proceeds went to the Joe Cans project against cancer via Big City Coffee.

What better way to spend 8 hours on a Saturday than at a street party surrounded by a few thousand beer lovers, 13 local breweries, food trucks ( P Ditty’s Wrap Wagon, Genki Takoyaki, Mosaic World Wraps), and music (Radio Boise DJ’s) on a mostly sunny afternoon. That was exactly the scenario that awaited the (hopefully first annual) Hoptober Freshtival attendees on October 11th at Boise Brewing in downtown Boise on Broad street.Admission to this all day beerbration (pretty sure I just made that word up) was a mere $20 in advance ($25 at the gate). At the gate each guest was issued a 4oz mini-mug. This mug, which was really more of a golden ticket, could be taken to any of the brewery fill stations on-site for a fill of magical elixir and the choices were fantastic. With 13 different breweries on hand, many having 2 beers to choose from, choices were never in short supply. On hand were beers from (in no particular order) 10 Barrel Brewing, Sockeye, Crooked Fence, Sawtooth, Woodland Empire, RAM, EDGE, Highlands Hollow, Salmon River, Portneuf Valley Brewing, Payette, Grand Teton, and of course Boise Brewing. Stouts, ales, saisons, and IPA’s were all easy to find, just to name a few.

While it was almost impossible to find a beer station that didn’t have a line, things were orderly and moved along at a brisk pace. Patrons waiting in line were cheerful, friendly and frequently chatting about what they had already tried, were hoping to try, or looking for advice of the like.Unfortunately, I missed out on the first few hours due to other commitments, but it was definitely still going strong when I rolled in at five o’clock. Having been on hand for the Boise Brewing grand opening earlier this summer (another street party), I knew that this would be a must attend event. To put the crowd and their beer drinking prowess into perspective, in total 35 kegs were consumed during the event and from what I could see I think the first breweries didn’t start to run dry until after 6 which I couldn’t help but find impressive. Having been behind the scenes, I know that more than one brewery on hand had more beer brought in to keep their taps flowing. As the evening drew to a close, around 7:45pm what seemed like a micro-burst brought in a bunch of wind and rain which wrecked a little bit of havoc but seemed a fitting way to close out a wonderful fall evening in downtown Boise.With the massive influx of new community micro-breweries that have started to spring up in the greater Boise area, it is fantastic to see events like this come about as a beer lover.

My only regret is that they don’t come along more often. Seriously, talk about beer paradise! Thirteen breweries that were all you can drink for 8 hours for a mere $20? Find me a better event anywhere if you can, because that’s where I want to be. As the North West continues to grow into a bit of a beer mecca it’s very welcome that this culture has expanded into Idaho after having such a successful incubation in our neighboring states of Oregon and Washington.Proceeds of this event benefitted the Idaho Brewers United and the Pink Boots Society. Boise Brewing has a great selection of photos from throughout the event that are worth checking out as well.

The Botanical Harvest festival, which I don’t believe is a new event, did feature 7 local breweriess this year which all contributed a special small batch brew featuring an ingredient provided by the botanical garden. This was a very family friendly event, which as a father of 2 I very much appreciate. It’s hard to be a beer lover with kids sometimes when most events cater only to the over 21 crowd. While some events may allow entry to kids, they don’t really cater or foster a “family friendly” atmosphere. At least not an environment I would want my kids at. This event was the exact opposite in that it was 100% family and child friendly, they just happened to have a small beer garden with great small batch beer brewed by 7 different breweries (Sockeye, EDGE, Cloud9, Sawtooth, Payette, Woodland Empire & Crooked Fence).

Aside from the beers, which were fantastic, there were lots of free activities to wander between like hay rides, cornhusk people craft (ok they kinda look like corn husk voodoo dolls…), face painting, trebuche pumpkin launching (courtesy of the Discovery Center of Idaho), food trucks (Calle 75 Tacos, Willowcreek Grill, & Riceworks, live music, an artisan market, and of course pumpkin patch/pumpkin painting and tons of photo opportunities.

I am hopeful that they addition of the local breweries and their inclusion of ingredients from the gardens will continue to be a key component of future fall festivals. If you find yourself in Boise during the Idaho Botanical Garden Fall Festival, definitely check it out and don’t hesitate to bring the entire family!

The Discovery Center of Idaho is a hands on science museum located in Boise, Idaho and tonight they had an “Adult Night” focusing on the science of brewing. What better way to learn about beer and brewing than with 4 local breweries serving a few of their popular bews, a few food trucks to keep everyone fed, and brewmasters with exhibits and small batch examples of some of the crazy things you can do with beer. I can safely say that I never imagined that I would have a peanut butter and jelly porter, but I did, and it was a remarkable experience. Not that I would set out to buy a peanut butter and jelly stout mind you, but that one could capture a peanut butter and jelly sandwich flavor in a beer was impressive.

Joining the regular exhibits, and the currently on display Leonardo DiVinci models were brewing exhibits from the public library which featured an impressive selection of beer/brewing books focusing on the North West (which were available for check out which I thought was even more impressive… I walked out with 2). There was also a hops tea station where not only could you gather to learn about how different kinds of hops can influence beer making, but you were able to sample a hops tea (think boiling water poured over ground up hops and steeped like a green tea). While meandering from one presentation to another you couldn’t help but strike up conversations with other beer lovers about everything from beer culture, brewing, and the wonderful growth that we’ve been seeing in the Micro Brewing scene here in the Treasure Valley with beer lovers and those doing the brewing themselves. The crowd was friendly and engaged, which always makes for a pleasant evening with strangers bound by common interests.

Aside from great beer (Boise Brewing, Payette Brewing, EDGE Brewing, & Woodland Empire) and a variety of amazing food (Riceworks, Archies Place, B Town Bistro) (if you happen to be in Boise you should hunt town Archie’s Place food truck and get your grub on) there were also presentations facilitated by local brewers about the Microbiology of Brewing, Science & Aging of Beer, and Mash. Honestly, what could be better than an evening in a hands on science museum where you can play with everything while eating good food, drinking great beer, and learning some fascinating info about the creation of the magical life sustaining elixir common people refer to as “beer”.